Puff. To be sure you are. Now then for the commander-in-chief, the Earl of Leicester, who, you know, was no favourite but of the queen’s.—We left off—in amazement lost!
| “Sir Christ. | Am in amazement lost. |
| But, see where noble Leicester comes! supreme | |
| In honours and command. |
| Sir Walt. | And yet, methinks, |
| At such a time, so perilous, so fear’d, | |
| That staff might well become an abler grasp. | |
| Sir Christ. | And so, by Heaven! think I; but soft, he’s here!” |
Puff. Ay, they envy him!
Sneer. But who are these with him?
Puff. Oh! very valiant knights: one is the governor of the fort, the other the master of the horse. And now, I think, you shall hear some better language: I was obliged to be plain and intelligible in the first scene, because there was so much matter of fact in it; but now, i’faith, you have trope, figure, and metaphor, as plenty as noun substantives.
“Enter Earl of Leicester, Governor, Master of the Horse, Knights, &c.
| Leic. | How’s this, my friends! is’t thus your new-fledged zeal |
| And plumèd valour moulds in roosted sloth? | |
| Why dimly glimmers that heroic flame, | |
| Whose reddening blaze, by patriot spirit fed, | |
| Should be the beacon of a kindling realm? | |
| Can the quick current of a patriot heart | |
| Thus stagnate in a cold and weedy converse, | |
| Or freeze in tideless inactivity? | |
| No! rather let the fountain of your valour | |
| Spring through each stream of enterprise, | |
| Each petty channel of conducive daring, | |
| Till the full torrent of your foaming wrath | |
| O’erwhelm the flats of sunk hostility!” |
Puff. There it is—followed up!
| “Sir Walt. | No more!—the freshening breath of thy rebuke |
| Hath fill’d the swelling canvas of our souls! | |
| And thus, though fate should cut the cable of |
[All take hands.
| Our topmost hopes, in friendship’s closing line | |
| We’ll grapple with despair, and if we fall, | |
| We’ll fall in glory’s wake! | |
| Leic. | There spoke old England’s genius! |
| Then, are we all resolved? | |
| All. | We are—all resolved. |
| Leic. | To conquer—or be free? |
| All. | To conquer, or be free. |
| Leic. | All? |
| All. | All.” |
| Dang. Nem. con. | egad! |
Puff. O yes!—where they do agree on the stage, their unanimity is wonderful!
| “Leic. | Then let’s embrace—and now— |
[Kneels.”
Sneer. What the plague, is he going to pray?
Puff. Yes; hush!—in great emergencies, there is nothing like a prayer.
| “Leic. O mighty Mars!” |
Dang. But why should he pray to Mars?
Puff. Hush!
| “Leic. | If in thy homage bred, |
| Each point of discipline I’ve still observed; | |
| Nor but by due promotion, and the right | |
| Of service, to the rank of major-general | |
| Have risen; assist thy votary now! |
| Gov. | Yet do not rise—hear me! |
[Kneels.
| Mast. | And me! |
[Kneels.
| Knight. | And me! |
[Kneels.
| Sir Walt. | And me! |
[Kneels.
| Sir Christ. | And me!” |
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